News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1887-02-17
THE SUNDAY PULPIT.
REV, DIR. TALMAGE'S LAST SUN.
DAYS SERMON.
SUBJECT: 1.-THE Flying Doves"

When God would set fast q beautiful
Thought He plants it in a tree When h
would make it float the waters He fashions i
Anto fish. When He would have it glide
the air He molds it into bird. For some
OF US the structure and habits of birds have
very great fascination. The blackbird
Coating like a flake of the darkness
through the sunshine. The meadow lark
with head of fawn and throat of velvet, ant
breast Of gold. The red tlamingo, flying oyel
the swamp like spark struckfrOm the forge
OF the setting sun. The pelican, black anC
Whlte, morning and night tangled in hi:
wing. They seem to be not more of earth
than Heaven, because they are all the tims
Faculatlng between the two. | do not won
der that Audubon took his gun and trauDed
through the American forests to find some
new specimens of birds Biologists have
gwen whole years to find the track of n birds
Claw IN the new red sandstone. There is
enough OF Gods architecture in a snipe's bill
or grouSes foot to confouud all tho uniye1.-
sues. Musicians have tried with bars and
cleIS to represent the music of the nightiR-
gale and the robin. One of the first things
that c6lId notices is the swallow at the
comes out with q handful of crumbs
to feed the Snowbffds. behold tho fowls of
the air" said Christ in His great sermon, and
Isaiah, looking forward to the time when
there would be great multitude of people
coming to Christ and coming to the church,
Is reminded of flock of pigeons alighting on
coop, and then all those pigeons together
trying to get into the window of the coop,
and he cries out in the words of my text:
Nv no are these that fly as a cloud, and as
the doves to their windowsn'
This is memorable day in Brooklyn Tab
ernacle. On other days we drop the net; to-
day we haul 1t in On other days we send
out invitations to the Kings party; TODAY
We SIT at the banquet. On other days we
nght tho battle; to-day we claim victory
through our Lord Jesus Christ. Men and
women who have toiled and contributed and
prayed for the advancement of this church,
take INTO your soul to-day with high salts
iactlon all this scene. Bring garlands
and music, and spirit of consecra-
uoG to celebrate this harvest home.
Oh the mercy of God. People tell me it is a
notion Then put on it four swift sailing
crafts with choice rigging and with compass
and chart and with skillful navigatOrs and
tell them to launch away and tell us the ex-
tent of this ocean Of Gods mercy, And
they start, and one ship goe to the north,
and another to the south, and another to the
eastand another to the west, and they sail on
ten thousand years, and after a while they
come up to the harbor of Heaven and some
one cries from the Heavenly land: Have you
found the shore of Gods mercyy' and
they reply: mo shore, no shore TO
Gods mercy" And then swift an
gels are dispatched fror the throne,
and they try to fly across this ocean
of divine mercy, and they fiy on ten thou-
>
and tncr come ba1k, and they fold their
wings at the foot of the throne of God and
some one crles out: Have you found the
shore to the ocean of Gods mercvF' And
they say: No shore, no shore to the ocean
OF Goa 5 mercy" Mercy, mercy! l sing ia
plead it, pray it. Here is a man bound
hand and foot by Satan, and one stroke of
this Gospel hammer makes him everIast-
no height it cannot clear. There is no depth
1t caunot fathom. There is no immensely it
cannot c0mpasS. When a large number of
persons join church the first natural ques-
ton that arises is, who arc they 2 What has
been their character Where did they
come from What is their history And
so looking off upon this great multitude " no |
to-day have co nected themselves with the |
Christian church, | cry out in the !
as cloud and as the doves to their windowsi |
They are slaves who have been emancipated |
III are soldiers who have enlisted for a |
thirty years war; they are heirs of immor- |
taIlty; they are blood-washed throng This |
m who fock into the kingdom of God |
to-day are like doves to their windows be- |
cause they fly low. The eagle darts I'D as |
though with his beak to strike the |
sun, and many of the other birds fv |
so high that sometimes they appear |
like specks against the sky, and Won |
cannot tell the contour of their bodies. |
or the style of their plumage. If a SPORTS
man discharges his gun at them they are so |
nigh up they do not for an instant chaura
their course But the pigeons fly low. They
around the door. They are afraid of great
attitudes. They never make any high
excursions. They are like the souls
VINO this day come into the dove
things, willing to come down at the feet of
Christ, willing TO crawl under the table and
take the crumbs that fall from the Masters
table. Not so We're they once Once they
aroF.0 L.
they were inexorable; once PERHAPS thew
were very hard to please but not now, Thew |
have changed their course: they have |
come into the dovecot of Gods merry. |
the years of their sin-sins of b-v- |
hood, girlhoOd, manhood womanhocd. |
dark breeding, beautiful sins, sins against |
God, sins against the Bible, sins against their
soul, sins against tho Judgment day, sins
against a long eternity. They remember ali |
these things. They Gy low. l have heard
that in England, in an Institution OF charity
where people are taken and cared for, that
before they take Of tho rags of their poverty
and wash oil the filth OF Their abomination,
q IictUre IS taken of them as they
are; SO that in after time they
may remember what the institution has done
for them. And here is Q Ticture of what we
we're before Christ redeemed US. We were
in tho rags of our SIN; and the filth of our
SbOminatIou. Uncleau, uncleanl Though
now i'll the light and the peace and the pros
Icrity of the gospel, and robed in the right
eousness of the Son of God, let US once in a
while come and look at the old picture OF
what we once were Then we will fly
low. Those souls who come into the kingdom
to-day should RENE nber that they are coming
into the presence Of a God who hates sin. He
abhorS ini4uity. He cannot abide trans
gressions. He slew the $4,000 of Sennach-
the Lord God Almighty" Fly lOwl An
emperor thousand years ago planted roe
bush which is blooming yet and nineteen
centuries ago, at the foot of the cross of the
blooming yet. You want to sto0p down and
pluck that rose. You want to stOOp down
and breathe that fragrance. Oh, for moro
Of the humility of the Gospel. Oh, for more
OF the childlike spirit. Let us fly low.
This multitude who flock into the Kingdom
of God also come like doves to their win lows
because they fly fer shelter. The albatross
makes q throne of the tempest. The sea-
glJls have a froEc in the storm, and the
higher the SURF dances the better they are
pleased. But the pigeons at the first blow of
the northeast storm HE to the dovecot, and
when the birds Of prey. with flashing eye |
and iron beax and filthy talons come down |
the pigeons, the doves, Immediately HE to |
the dovecot. And so it is with those who |
come here to-day, who enter the Kingdom of |
God. They come, what FORE For shelter. |
Sin has been after them. Sorrow has EeeG /
after them. You are followed out by your
dog when you want him togo back, and you
bid him home. You start on your walk, look
back and the dog is following. You say.
" Back with you, home with you" You 60
on, and after a while accidentally you
look back and with sneaky tread
he is still 70 lowing you, and will not go back.
So, too, after every man there is some sin
following; where he goes this sin goes: where
be stays this sin stays: trying to destroy
him, trying to tempt him away from tho
right, trying to overthrow him. Every man
has some Fesetting sin. For every dove a !
hawk. These who come to-day are COM
ing for shelter They say practically: 81 If
there is any power in prayer. pray for me;
If there is anything in Christian association,
let me try its influence: if there is anything
" w here thou goest VIII go. Thy people |
shall be my people, thy God my God. Where
thou diest viii die and there will / DO
buried. The Lord do so to me and moro
also if aught but death part thee and me -
They come for shelter. When trouble comes
to you, you take valerian to sOOthe the nerve,
Or you take alcohol to revive the spirits. |
but the medicines fail and the stimulants
fail. Then you try the excitements of bust
ness, or you try the merry making Of the
clubroons; but you are like the dove that
went out from the ark. Itflew to the north
an there was a waste of water, to the south,
to the east and to the west-there was moth
idg but waste of waters in which fOated
the carcasses Of the dead world. and the first
solid thing the dove touched after leaving the
ark the window of the ark. No peace
out of God. No hope no comfort, no solace |
I have tried the solace Of this world. Il is
most insufficient. Oh, the infinite quackery
Of this worlds comfort. It cannot help an
immortal spirit.
" Substantial comfort will not grow
In Natures barren soil:
All we ran boast till Christ we know